Holiday Hospitality

It is official! The holiday season has begun. There is so much disagreement on the internet as to the exact beginning date of the “the holiday season” so I will defer to the Hallmark Channel and according to them the season has begun! There will be Christmas movies and discussion of life problems over hot coco for the next two months. For those of you who like your holidays where the palm trees sway, you may be expecting visitors. We updated the guest bathroom of a home two weeks ago and now we better get started on our guest bedrooms if we want to be ready to extend our hospitality to visitors from back home. “I want my guests to feel like they are in Florida!” is the request that I hear often. Let’s look at two guest rooms, one from a Gardenia model and one from a Bridgeport model that will make your guests feel wrapped in the Florida sun throughout the holiday season and beyond, somewhere in the heart of The Villages.

• Room #1
This is a guest bedroom of a Gardenia model, and it could be done in two days because we did not re-paint or buy new furniture. This transformation took one day to shop for the new bedding and lamps and one day to install all the new items. All items in the room were purchased at local vendors. We used the art above the bed for inspiration. We wanted to pull the teal out of the picture because teal and yellow look good together and the color combination looks very Floridian. We needed new bedding, and we found an entire set on sale that worked. We added Euro pillows (the square pillows along the back of the bed) and a white coverlet to that set. All the bedding was purchased in the same shopping plaza between the two stores.

• New lamps #1
We placed teal glass lamps on each side of the bed, and it reinforced the color in the art. The previous lamps were too small, and the new lamps are a much better scale in the space. The color of the glass lamps visually connected to the bedding and the artwork and tied the look together. They also elevated the space because they look expensive, but they were not! Remember, we did not buy any new furniture or re-paint. We just updated the bedding and lamps, and the room looks fresh and bright.

• Room #2
The second room is a guest bedroom in a Bridgeport Model and this one required more time because we painted and bought new furniture. The homeowners wanted the room to feel more like Florida and they wanted light, bright and coastal. We chose Windowpane 6210 which is a few shades lighter than Rain-washed 6211. The Window pane is very light and adds a touch of blue while keeping the room bright. In the Bridgeport Model the middle guest room tends to be dark so adding a color that would lighten the space naturally is always a good idea.

• Flooring
The guest bedroom was wall to wall carpet, and it was showing its age.
We installed engineered hardwood into the space and did not use thresholds. The installer was able to abut the tile to the hardwood, so the flooring transition is smooth. This put the homeowners mind at ease because abutting the tile to the hardwood eliminates tripping hazards.

• New Furniture
Even though this room is a guest room, the homeowners were tired of the old furniture they brought from up north. They wanted a more coastal looking set, and we found one of course, on sale! The headboard is high and has a shuttered look, which looks very coastal. The side tables and chest have a tan top with a hint of grey in the finish. I love the two-toned look because the wood on top is reminiscent of driftwood.

• Art
The picture over the bed is titled, “Chairman of the Board”, by Gene Rizzo and is the perfect fit for this room. This scene is played out on beaches everywhere in Florida every day.

• New Bedding
All the bedding was purchased at a local retailer. It was not expensive to begin with and then it was on sale. This bedding is a combination of different sets of bedding. We pulled the colors from the art above the bed. When I shop for bedding, I always take a picture of the art on my cell phone and use that as a reference to see how the bedding will coordinate. The cell phone is your best friend when shopping.

• Lamps
The lamps are new and a combination of soft gold and white. They look a bit rustic and pull colors from the art as well. The shades are made of burlap which we loved and if you notice we placed a burlap pillow on the bed to visually tie into the shades.

• DIY
A quick and cute DIY is the basket we used above the chest. The basket is called a gathering basket, and it is flat. I hot glued starfish to the basket, and it became instant art! It added a unique and natural flare to the space.

• Rug
We angled a 5×8 rug in the space to pull the room together and give feet a soft place to land.
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